Room conditioner



Sept. 22, 1959 Filed D90. 6, 1957 J. SMILACK ROOM CONDITIONER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Jacob Smi/ack His Attorney p 22, 1959 J. SMILACK 2,904,972

ROOM CONDITIONER BYi His A/fomey Sept. 22, 1959 J. SMILACK ROOM CONDITIONER Filed Dec. 6, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet a His AI) omey .1. SMILACK l ROOM CONDITIONER -sqst. 22, 1959 I I4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FiledDec 6 1957 Y a V. J I I II M u a n v Q u u 1 L.

Jacob SmI/ack His Attorney United States Patent-O ROOM CONDITIONER Jacob Smilack, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General'Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application December 6, 1957, Serial No. 701,009

8 Claims. (C16 62-280) This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to thin window air conditioners.

It is an object of this invention to provide an im proved, more compact air conditioner in which the partition wall is shaped to guide the air efficiently from.

the room through the fan to the evaporator.

It is another object of this invention to provide an arrangement wherein the partition wall supports the fan motor .insuch a way that it is surrounded and cooled by the outside air flowing to the condenser.

It is still another object of the invention to so locate the fresh air and exhaust air doors in the partition wall that the stale room .air is efiic-iently dischanged from the room and fresh air is drawn in.

These and other objects are attained in the form shown in the drawings in which the air conditioning chassis slides into the casing from the side opening into the 100m. The side facing the room is provided with a removable front and removable grilles for easy installation and removal of the chassis from the casing. The partition wall is pan-shaped so that the air drawn from the room by the evaporator fan is guided by the pan-shaped partition wall to the evaporator above it. The fan mo tor is supported from the partition wall in a cantilever arrangement so that it is surrounded by the air flowing from the condenser fan to the condenser. The fresh air door is located in the air stream of the condenser fan so as to force the discharge from the condenser fan through the door opening in the partition wall into the air stream of the evaporator fan. An exhaust air door is provided at the top of the partition wall for exhausting stale air from the room. A deflector is provided adjacent the fiinger ring to distribute condensate to the air discharged by the condenser fan so that it is readily carried to the condenser for evaporation.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention, will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

Figure l is a perspective view of the air conditioner viewed from the room;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the lin 2-2 of Figure 3;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 4--4 of Figure 2;

2,904,972 Patented Sept. 22, 1959 Figure 9 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line 9--9 of Figure 8; and

Figure 10 is a perspective view of a unitary sheet metal member providing the inner side walls 38 and the to wall 39.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, there is shown an air conditioning casing 20 having imperforate top, bottom and side Walls and provided with a lower-set of louvers 22 on its back side exposed to the outdoor air .and an upper set of louvers 24 also on its back side located above the louvers 22. The front of the cabinet is provided with a removable frame 26 which supports the room air inlet grille 28 and the room air discharge grille 30. A filter 32 may be provided behind the room air inlet grille 28. p

The chassis of the refrigerating system includes a base 34 having a shallow well 36 for receiving condensate, Extending upwardly from the base 34 are the imperforate side walls and supports 38 which support the evaporator 40 immediately behind the grille 30 and the condenser 42 aligned with the louvers 24. The supports 38 are provided with embossed strengthening ribs 37, as shown in Fig. 10 and are joined to the inner top wall 39.

Sealing gaskets 151 extend around the perimeter of the grille 30 and the evaporator 40 to prevent air discharged out of the evaporator 40 from leaking back into the inlet air stream. Also, the condenser 42 has a horizontal support 153 beneath which drains into the well 36. Extending between the back side of the casing 20 and the support 153 between the lower and upper louvers 22 and 24 is a second sealing gasket 155 of sponge rubber to prevent air discharged out of the condenser from leakv ing back into the inlet. The condenser 42 is in the form of an oblique parallelogram and is further supported at the opposite ends by the brackets 44 resting upon the upper side edges of the pan-shaped partition wall 46. This pan-shaped partition wall 46 is supported by the base 34 and the vertical side walls 38. It has a rounded pan shape so as to guide the air drawn in through the room air inlet grille 28 and the filter 32 by the evaporator fan 48 upwardly into the rear fan of the evaporator 40. The air flows through the evaporator 40 towards the room and is discharged through the upper grille 39 into the room. The evaporator fan 48is surrounded by the evaporator inlet ring 50 which serves as a shroud to place the interior of the pan-shaped partition wall 46 under pressure. Beneath the evaporator 40 is the evaporator drain-pan 52 supported on insulating material. It is provided with a drain connection 54 connecting to a drain hose 56 extending down to the condensate well or trough 36 Through this drainage system, whenever any moisture is Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 3; Figure 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 6-45 of Figure 2;

"Figure 7 is a front view of a modified form of air conditioner viewed from the room with a portion of the grille broken away;

. Figure 8 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken along the lines 8-8 of Figure 7;

condensed from the air passing through the evaporator 40, it is collected in the. pan 52 and drained through the hose 56 into the condensate receptacle 36 in the base. The insulation beneath the pad 52 prevents any condensation above the fan 48 from dropping into the compartment beneath.

The evaporator fan 48 is mounted upon one end of a double-ended fan motor 58. The pan-shaped partition wall 46 is provided with a slight recess 60 surrounding the opening for the shaft of the evaporator fan. The recess 60 contains a resilient mounting ring or cup 62 of elastomeric material which surrounds and firmly holds the boss 64 provided at the adjacent end of motor 58. The motor 58 is cantilever-supported by a. bracket which includes a ring 66 in the form of a band or strap having out-turned flanges 68 at the ends thereof which are clamped together by one or more bolts 70. The ring or band 66 is supported by four L-shaped brackets 72 having one hor izontal portion welded .to the ring or band 66 3 H and the other radial portion fastened by screws 74 to the partition wall 46.

The shaft on the opposite end of the motor 58 supports the condenser fan 76 which is provided with a flinger or slinger ring 78 which dips into the condensate trough 36. The condenser fan 76 is surrounded by the condenser inlet ring 80 which places the compartment beneath it and the partition wall 46 under pressure to force the air outwardly through the condenser 42 and the discharge louvers 24. The operation of the fan motor 58 rotates the fans 48 and 76 as well as the fiinger 'ring 78. To dispose of the condensate and to use this condensate to cool the condenser 42, there is provided a water deflector 82 extending upwardly at an angle from the well or trough 36 in alignment with the flinger ring 78 at the side on which the greatest amount of water is discharged. This water deflector 82 breaks up the condensate thrown upwardly by the flinger ring 78 into fine particles which are carried upwardly by the movement of the air onto the surface of the condenser 42 where their evaporation serves to cool the condenser 42. The deflector 82, like the flinger ring 78, is located on the room side of the condenser inlet ring 80. To prevent the loss of any of the condensate and its discharge through the louvers 22, there is provided a water collector 84 for catching any water which might be splashed toward the louvers 22 by the flinger ring 78.

To force fresh air into the room, there is provided in the partition wall 46 a fresh air opening 86 directly behind the evaporator. It is provided with a fresh air door 88 hinged by the hinges 90 at its upper edge so that when it is opened, as shown in Fig. 2, it will act as a deflector to deflect the upwardly flowing air from the condenser fan through the fresh air opening 86 from which it will be carried through the evaporator 46 and the grille 30 into the room. Since the condenser fan 76 is slightly larger than the evaporator fan 48, the opening of the fresh air door 88 will cause the outdoor air to be Y forced into the room. The fresh air door 88 is provided with an operating arm 92 connected to the end of a Bowden wire 94 extending through the casing 96 to the fresh air and exhaust air control mechanism 98. The casing 96 is supported by the bracket 121 fixed to the partition wall 46.

The top of the pan-shaped partition wall 46 is provided with an exhaust air opening 123 closed by the exhaust air door 125. The upward flow of air from the evaporator fan 48 provides a Zone of higher pressure at the end of its vertical travel where it is forced to change direction so that air can be exhausted from the room through this exhaust air opening 123. The exhaust air opening 123 is sealed from the outdoor air under pressure between the condenser fan 76 and the condenser 42 by a large, thick gasket 124 of sponge rubber or a suitable foamed elastomer extending between the top of the partition wall 46 and the inner top wall 39 which joints at its ends to the inner side walls 38. This inner top wall 39 and the gasket 124 have large apertures therein which are aligned with and register with the exhaust opening 123 to provide an enclosed discharge or exhaust passage extending to the space between the inner top wall 39 and the top wall of the casing 20 leading directly to the space ,at atmospheric pressure on the outside of the condenser 42. This insures the free exhausting of air to the outside under the force of the pressure between the evaporator fan 48 and the evaporator Whenever the exhaust air door 125 is open. The exhaust air door 125 is opened by an operating arm 127 connected to the end of a 'Bowden wire 129 passing through the casing 131 and connected to the door operating mechanism operated by the knob 98. The casing 131 is supported by a bracket 133 attached to the partition wall 46.

' The chassis is provided with a control panel 135 supported by the base 34 and the adjacent side wall 38. It

for the controls.

includes an adjustable thermostatic control 137 responsive to the temperature of the air flowing from the room through the grille 28. The control panel is also provided with an Off-On switch mechanism 139. Both of these controls 137 and 139 control the operation of the sealed motor-compressor unit 141 located at the right of the fan motor 58 and the fans 48 and 76, as viewed in Fig. 3. It is located on the outside of the partition wall, as shown in phantom in Fig. 2. The partition wall 46 is provided with a recess 143 to accommodate the sealed unit 141. The sealed unit 141 is located in the airstream flowing from the fan 76 to the condensern42 so that it is cooled thereby. The sealed motor-compressor unit 141 withdraws evaporated refrigerant from the evaporator 40 through the suction conduit 145 and discharges compressed gas into the condenser 42 where it is liquefied by the condenser air circulating system. The compressed refrigerant is condensed in the condenser 42 and forwarded through a capillary tube (not shown) to the inlet located at the bottom of the evaporator 40.

The chassis is readily accessible at all times by removing the front wall of the casing from the room, which permits convenient withdrawal of the entire chassis. This facilitates manufacturing, inspection, installation and repair.

In Figs. 7-9 there is shown a modified frontal arrangement in which the cabinet front 220 has a room air discharge grille 222 preferably of some suitable plastic material provided with rectangular apertures 224. This grille 224 is located in front of the evaporator 40, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The rear of the grille 222 is provided with integral tongues 226 extending through apertures in the flange portions 228 of the front 220 surrounding the opening substantially registering with the evaporator 40. These tongues 226 also receive the tubular seal 230. The seal and the grille 222 are held against opposite faces of the flanges 228 by push-on nuts 232 located within the seal 230.

The grille 222 is provided with an integral downwardly extending extension 234 providing an escutcheon plate This extension is provided with three apertures through which extend the control knobs 236. One of the control knobs is provided with a lateral extension 238 at its inner end for registering with the irregular shaped aperture 240 in the bracket 242. By this arrangement the knob can only be withdrawn from the stem 244 of the control when the projection 238 is turned to the right. This insures proper registration between the knob 236 and the stem 244 whenever the grille 222 is removed. The knobs 236 must be removed before the grille 222 can be removed.

Behind the grille 222 there are provided three identical circular air deflectors 246, 248 and 250. They are provided with directional louvers 252 and a centrally located hub 254 pressed onto the shaft of the knob 256 and fastened by a washer and a screw. The shaft of the knob 256 for each of the deflectors is rotatably mounted in the grille 222 and projects through to the front face. The enlarged portion of the knob is in front of the grille for manual rotation so that the deflectors can be rotated individually to any angular position desired so as to direct the air individually in any direction.

Beneath the grille 222 is a perforated metal room air inlet grille 260 having downwardly extending tongues 262 along its lower edge extending through slots in the bottom of the front 220 so as to form a hinge between the bottom of the grille 260 and the bottom of the front 220. This grille 260 is provided with a two-position latching arrangement in the form of rearwardly extending tongues 264 on the opposite edges having notches 266 cooperating with the C-shaped spring 268 to hold the grille 260 in its vertical full-line position tightly against the front 220. The latch arrangement also has a second position provided by the stop 271 which will hold the grille 260 in the dotted-line position shown in Fig. 8.

This position is particularly suitable for the removal and insertion of the air filter 270 normally located behind the left side of the grille 260 in front of the fan 48. This filter is somewhat similar to the filter 32. This filter 270 preferably is removably mounted in a slide-way 272 provided by vertical channels in front of the uprights 276 and 278 in Fig. 3. The bottom portion of the grille 260 is provided with astop in the form of a bevelled channel 280 for holding the filter 270 close to the grille 260.

By this arrangement, whenever it is necessary to clean or change the filter 270 the grille 260 is merely pulled out from its normal vertical position located by the notches 266 to its dotted-line position located by the shoulders 271. The top of the filter is then grasped and pulled upwardly for removal and a new filter is slipped downwardly through the channels 272 to replace the dirty filter with a clean one. The grille 260 may be readily removed by pulling it out farther beyond the shoulders 271 and lifting the tongues 262 out of the slots in the bottom of the front 220. This provides a novel, convenient arrangement for holding and replacing the filter.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. An air conditioning unit including a cabinet having a room air inlet below and a room air outlet above on one side and an outdoor air inlet below and an outdoor air outlet on the opposite side, an evaporator in series with said room air outlet, a condenser in series with said outdoor air outlet, a generally vertical shallow pan shaped partition wall separating the evaporator and the room air inlet and outlet from said condenser and said outdoor air inlet and outlet and providing an air passage from the room air inlet to the inner face of the evaporator, a double ended motor supported by said partition wall and having a fan on one end in series with the room air inlet and a fan on the opposite end in series with the condenser air inlet, said partition wall having a fresh air opening and a fresh air door for said opening located between said condenser and evaporator and an exhaust air opening and an exhaust air door located in the top, means extending around the end bypassing said condenser forming an enclosed passage extending from said exhaust air opening to the outside, and a motor-compressor unit located on the outdoor side of said wall.

2. An air conditioning unit including a cabinet having a room air inlet below and a room air outlet above on one side and an outdoor air inlet below and an outdoor air outlet on the opposite side, an evaporator in series with said room air outlet, a condenser in series with said outdoor air outlet, a generally vertical shallow pan shaped partition wall separating the evaporator and the room air and said outdoor air inlet and outlet and providing an air passage from the room air inlet to the inner face of the evaporator, a double ended motor supported by said partition wall and having a fan on one end in series with the room air inlet and a fan on the opposite end in series with the condenser air inlet, a supporting band encircling and connecting to said double ended motor, and arms extending from said band connected to said partition wall for supporting said motor.

3. An air conditioning unit including a cabinet having a room air inlet below and a room air outlet above on one side and an outdoor air inlet below and an outdoor air outlet on the opposite side, an evaporator in series with said room air outlet, a condenser in series with said outdoor air outlet, a generally vertical shallow pan shaped partition wall separating the evaporator and the room air inlet and outlet from said condenser and said outdoor air inlet and outlet and providing an air passage from the room air inlet to the inner face of the evaporator, a double ended motor supported by said partition wall and having a fan on one end in series with the room air inlet and a fan on the opposite end in series with the condenser air inlet, said partitionwall having a recess adjacent the end of said double ended motor, said double ended motor having a supporting projection at said end extending within said recess, the remainder of said double ended motor extending on one side of said wall, and a bracket supported by and extending from said partition wall for providing a secondsupport for said double ended motor.

4. An air conditioning unit including a cabinet having a room air inlet below and a room air outlet above on one side and an outdoor air inlet below and an outdoor air outlet on the opposite side, an evaporator in series with said room air outlet, a condenser in series with said outdoor air outlet, a generally vertical shallow pan shaped partition wall separating the evaporator and the room air inlet and outlet from said condenser and said outdoor air inlet and outlet and providing an air passage from the room air inlet to the inner face of the evaporator, a double ended motor supported by said partition wall and having a fan on one end in series with the room air inlet and a fan on the opposite end in series with the condenser air inlet, the motor driven condenser fan being provided with a flinger ring, a water trough beneath the flinger ring for collecting condensed moisture from the evaporating means, said water trough being provided with a water deflector extending upwardly at an angle beyond the periphery of the flinger ring against which water thrown off by the flinger ring impinges.

5. An air conditioning unit including a cabinet having a room air inlet opening and a room air outlet opening, an evaporator in series with said openings, a refrigerant liquefying means operatively connected to said evaporator, means for circulating air from said inlet opening into heat exchange with said evaporator and to said outlet opening, a grille hinged at the bottom to said cabinet extending over one of said openings having :a slideway upon the rear of its side edges, and an air filter removably supported in the slideway in the space behind said hinged grille, said hinged grille having two position latch means with one position in which the upper edge is against the cabinet and a second position with its upper edge away from the cabinet a distance greater than the thickness of the air filter to permit the slidable withdrawal of the filter from said slideway.

6. An air conditioning unit including a cabinet having a room air inlet opening and a room air outlet opening, an evaporator in series with said openings, a refrigerant liquefying means operatively connected to said evaporator, means for circulating air from said inlet opening into heat exchange with said evaporator and to said outlet opening, a grille hinged at the bottom to said cabinet extending over one of said openings, an air filter for said one opening, said hinged grille having a slideway for slidably supporting said air filter.

7. Air conditioning apparatus including a cabinet in the form of an outer shell having a top wall, a base within said shell having an upwardly extending partition wall and side and top inner walls mounted thereon within said shell, the top inner wall mounted upon said base being spaced from the top wall of said outer shell to provide an exhaust passage therebetween, a condenser located on one side of said partition wall within the side and top inner walls, said exhaust passage by-passing said condenser, a condenser fan and motor-compressor unit located on the same side of said partition wall as said condenser within said side and top inner walls, an evaporator and an evaporator fan for forcing air through the evaporator mounted on the opposite side of said partition wall, and an exhaust air duct extending from the discharge side of said evaporator fan to said exhaust passage for discharging air from said evaporator fan through said exhaust passage by-passing said condenser.

8. Air conditioning apparatus including cabinet in the 7 form of an outer shell having outer top and side walls, a base within said shell having a pan-shaped upwardly extending partition wall and side and top inner walls joined to said partition wall and mounted upon said base within said shell, one of said inner walls being spaced from the adjacent outer Walls to provide an exhaust passage therebetween, a condenser fan and motor-compressor unit located upon one side of said partition wall within said side and top inner walls, an evaporator and an evaporator fan for forcing air through the evaporator mounted upon the opposite side of said partition wall, the flange portion of said partition wall being provided with an exhaust air References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,535,775 Ashley Dec. 26, 1950 2,754,747 Bertling July 17, 1956 2,769,320 Kuhlenschmidt Nov. 6, 1956 2,796,745 Rose June 25, 1957 

